Legends of Tomorrow One Shots

Independence Day

Being born of a British background Rip had no concept of this Fourth of July what so ever. He'd never once experienced such a thing, not even when his travels brought him to America. Though, the Legends had told him it was a decade old holiday. Rip was still not entirely convinced, however. And perhaps that's how he found himself in the god awful situation. He should have known better than to tell the Legends his skepticism of the holiday, because of course they decided to bring him along on their latest celebration. 

They brought him, along with his daughter and their own children, to a large open field. It was very crowded; one couldn't walk a meter without bumping into another person. Not to mention the food was mortifying. Why was everything in America made with so much sugar and carbs?

Still, he could have suffered through all that, as Ellie Jo seemed to be enjoying herself, and he didn't want to ruin her fun. She and Blake Vasquez were exchanging thoughts on which form of sign language was easier and more efficient - BSL or ASL. Laurel was showing her the American flags, pointing at it and explaining exactly what the design meant. Rip didn't even have to interrupt for her, because the Legend Kids went slowly enough that she and Blake could understand and read their lips.

But things grew absolutely intolerable, when it got dark. Everyone gathered around, sitting on picnic blankets and staring up at the sky. Mosquitos buzzed around, biting people, making them grumble and complain. Still, everyone stuck around, eating their despicable food, carrying around giant star spangled banners. Some small children ran around wildly, waving little American flags. Two teenage girls up in the park's bleachers wore identical headbands with flashing red, white, and blue lights.

A rather large man, possibly even larger than Mick Rory, wore a massive, fluffy red, white, and blue wig that looked rather itchy. He was screaming into the crowd very loudly, "MERICA!!!" Rip suspected he was probably very drunk.

The Legends found a large space to dump their candy and blankets. Some of them even brought folding chairs to sit in. The teenagers and Ellie Jo ran off to go buy glow sticks...for some reason.

Rip thought he'd go blind, there was so much neon colors. Mostly red, white, and blue...but still! Banners and poster boards hung randomly all over the place. There several flashing lights and smoke machines. Music blared from unseen speakers. Children screamed and giggled with delight. It was all so very loud and bright. Then, things started exploding, and Rip lost his shit.

Alright...nothing actually exploded, but it had sounded like an explosion. One moment, the speakers were loudly playing America's national anthem, the next a whistling noise shot through the air and -

Something crackled in the air, sizzled like fire; and then it popped. It sounded like someone had set off a bomb. Bright lights of all colors of the rainbow appeared in the sky. Rip felt the ground rumble angrily underneath him. He jumped to his feet at once, heart racing, eyes wide.

"Bloody hell!" he gasped.

The Legends snickered, but Rip didn't find any of this experience very humorous.

"Calm down," Sara told him. "It's just the fire works."

"The...what?" Rip blinked.

"Fireworks," she repeated.

Rip was about to ask her whether or not she was just making up terms to confuse him, when another not-explosion went off, filling the field with bright light.

He flinched, as the ground vibrated once more. He didn't like it. It was too loud, too bright. Three more not-explosions happened, and each time Rip felt his heart move faster and faster.